Song inspired by Raynham's Monti wins country music song of year

A song inspired by a Raynham father’s continued use of the truck that belonged to his son, an Army sergeant first class who died in Afghanistan, won song of the year at the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday night.

A song inspired by a Raynham father’s continued use of the truck that belonged to his son, an Army sergeant first class who died in Afghanistan, won song of the year at the Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday night.

Lee Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck” won the honor in Nashville.

“Unbelievable song, first time I heard it blew my mind, changed my life. This award is completely about the song and about the writers,” Brice told USA Today about the song and its inspiration.

Medal of Honor recipient Jared Monti, 30, was killed on a mountain in Afghanistan in 2006 while trying to save the life of a fellow soldier. His father, Paul, of Raynham still drives his truck in memory of him.

A Facebook link to the emotional country song about a pickup truck that belonged to a soldier who didn’t come home from war was sent to Paul Monti earlier this year by the mother of a soldier who was killed with Monti’s son in 2006.

The writers of the song — Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary — were inspired by a comment the Gold Star father made to National Public Radio in 2011.

When asked about keeping Jared’s memory alive during a segment recorded around Memorial Day in 2011, Paul Monti told the NPR interviewer, “I drive his truck.”

Harrington heard the interview in her truck one day, wrote down the touching quote on a Post-it note and then composed the country hit with her colleagues.